MEET MORE 2025 UNITY AWARD WINNERS
GROWING UP IN STEVENS POINT in the ’90s, Mary Joy Hickey didn’t feel like she fit in – except when she played music. Her all-girl punk rock band provided an outlet to express herself, build community and, eventually, feel seen and celebrated.
In high school, Hickey helped organize a battle of the bands to benefit the local Boys & Girls Club. The event was a milestone memory: Her band, Nobody’s Housewife, won third place on her 17th birthday. “I felt the power of collective work toward something we cared about,” says Hickey.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Today, she’s still playing music – a prolific musician in Milwaukee bands including Sex Scenes, Chi-Chi’s Restaurant, and Saebra & Carlyle – but also working to create the safe space she wishes she had as a youth.
After a decade of volunteering with Girls Rock MKE, in 2024, Hickey became executive director of the Milwaukee-based nonprofit that hosts an annual one-week summer music camp for girls, women and nonbinary individuals. Each session, participants learn to play an instrument, form a band and then write and perform a song.
Along with the fundamentals of music education and performance, the camp provides a safe space for young people to connect with others as they explore their own identities. While learning an instrument builds confidence, Hickey says songwriting allows campers to explore their personal values and emotions. Then, collaborating with band members in writing and performing, campers learn to express their opinions while also listening to others.
“It’s a space to be vulnerable and let others be vulnerable, then synthesizing that into a greater good,” says Hickey.
The camp brings together youth from different school systems and Milwaukee-area ZIP codes, and no one is turned away for financial reasons. Girls Rock welcomes nonbinary and transgender campers who benefit from a safe space to authentically be themselves. Together, Hickey explains, campers learn from one another about different ways to be human.
Girls Rock isn’t just for kids – the organization also hosts a camp for adults, Ladies Rock. The mission? Empowering women to give themselves permission to engage in creative practice that brings them joy, confidence and community.
While both programs help campers find their voice and connect with others, Hickey sees Girls Rock as an early intervention that can equip young people to navigate systems of oppression.
“There are a lot of dominant systems and expectations put on us, especially in marginalized identities, that limit the possibilities we see for ourselves,” she says. “My goal is to show another way of going into the world with the self-leadership we’ve helped activate through the creative arts.”
An Organization That Inspires Mary Joy
“I look up to the Cactus+ initiative, the nonprofit arm of Cactus Club. They have an artist-driven model of creating community with several different programs where people can explore themselves as artists in ways that prioritize inclusivity and accessibility.”
How can people create more unity in Milwaukee?
“Practice radical curiosity, or truly embracing the possibility that there are so many different ways to live. Just because we are living a specific way doesn’t mean it’s the way to live. How can we get radically curious about others and their perspectives and use that to broaden our own horizons?”
